“They Wage War on Horseback.” Study of a Late Medieval Saddle from the National Museum of Transylvanian History

In the spring of 2023, while reviewing the arms and armor in the Medieval and Early Modern Collection of the National Museum of Transylvanian History and asking about equestrian equipment, I was lucky to find a very interesting yet unpublished saddle, with very little-known information about it. This article aims to argue, based on available period analogies and close analysis, that the artifact in question is an authentic, late medieval war saddle, dating back to the late fifteenth or early sixteenth centuries, and an item of high value for the National History Museum of Transylvania as well as for the research field, as it is one of the few known extant pieces worldwide. Furthermore, another aim of this article is an attempt at the reconstruction of some of its hidden story in the context of the late medieval history of heavy cavalry in the Kingdom of Hungary, sources regarding the Transylvanian and central-European craft of saddlery, and the equestrian traditions of the time.